1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of electrical connectors, and more particularly to a lever for use in an IC socket for occupying less room on a printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
One conventional IC socket 9 is shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The IC socket 9 comprises a base 91, a cover 94 slidably engaged on the base 91, a lever 93 received in between the cover 94 and the base 91 for driving the cover 94 to slide on the base 91. The cover 94 defines a plurality of holes 941 in rows therein. Two ears 942 and 943 are formed on one side of the cover 94. The base 91 defines a plurality of slots 911, each of which corresponds to a hole 941 of the cover 94 and remains in communication with the hole 941 when the cover 94 is driven to slide on the base 91 by the lever 93. The lever 93 comprises a lateral portion 931 and a longitudinal portion 932 joined to the lateral portion 931. The lateral portion 931 of the lever 93 is received in between the cover 94 and the base 91, while the longitudinal portion 932 thereof is exposed out of the cover 94 and the base 91. Normally the IC socket 9 is defined as in a tight status where the longitudinal portion 932 is arranged parallel to and proximate to the side face where the two ears 942 are formed, and the longitudinal portion 932 is retained in between the two ears 942. In the tight status, each pair of the hole 941 and the slot 911 firmly receives an IC pin of an IC (not shown), therefore the IC pin is not easily pulled out from the IC socket 9. When a user lifts the longitudinal portion 932 of the lever 93, the cover 94 is driven to slide forward by the lever 93 for a distance less than a width of the slot 911, thus releasing retention on the IC pin and allowing the user to pull the IC from the IC socket 9 easily. However, the conventional IC socket 9 may be accidentally loosened from its tight status due to transportation shaking or accidental touch on the longitudinal portion 932 of the lever 93. FIG. 5 illustrates the longitudinal portion 932 of the lever 93 is retained in between the two ears 942. Since the whole longitudinal portion 932 is arranged parallel to the two ears side, and only a part of the periphery of the longitudinal portion 932 is separately grasped by the two ears 942, the retention on the longitudinal portion 932 of the lever 93 is apt to be removed by accidental touching or vibration. Further, in some instances, an end of the lever longitudinal portion 932 may take up a “real estate” on a printed circuit board, where a few electronic component are needed to be equipped thereon, due to having the whole longitudinal portion 932 parallel to the two ears side. Therefore, there is a need to provide a new IC socket to resolve the above-mentioned shortcomings.